Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I own Larger boids such as retics,burms,scrubs,and some boa specias but never owned an anaconda so I am thinking about getting a baby male so i was wondering how often should i feed it until adult hood? I understand the can get obese easily but need advice any would help thanks
stephen

` Since that's all been covered in the last few weeks, I was going to tell you to scroll down and find it. Well, I just scrolled down and couldn't find it.
` I feed neonate Anacondas to a year and 1/2 old at seven to ten day intervals. I like to wait for them to defecate, but some don't until after two meals. Some of my large Boa c. ssp. do the same.
` For the next two years or so, I feed them at two to three week intervals. I base all intervals on the individual snake's growth rate, until mature, but I don't exceed the intervals. If I have a very slow growing snake, or one getting fat, I cut it down, a little.
` Young adults, and up, I drastically cut feeding intervals. It averages out to 5 to 7 times a year. I judge just how long to go by how worked up they get when they smell the smaller snake's food thawing.
` Your Retics and Burms will live longer and be more healthy with less frequent feedings, too IMHO. With some Retics, in the past, I've had the problem of them getting too aggressive when hungry, but that was way back in the old live food days. I'm thinking about getting a pair of Retics from a race of smaller size, and trying to get them to respond like the Anacondas. See the pix below.

` I've always been fascinated by Scrubs, but never had any experience with them. What is it like to keep them? Do you have any large ones? How have yours responded to handling? Are yours very aggressive eaters? Anything else interesting about them?
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to a standard feeding schedule is when a female boid is being conditioned for breeding. Females that are planned to be bred should be fed heavier for 6 months or so before the breeding season for that species. Females should always be slightly over the estimated optimum weight if breeding attempts are to be made. Most females boids will stop feeding shortly after becoming gravid, or at best a few months into it. It is not unusual for a female boid, depending on the species, to be off feed for 3 to 6 months. Production of eggs or young is a heavy energy drain on the female and she and the young will fair much better if she is slightly overweight.

Kelly